


Blue Feather Fallen

by WestOfWhat



Category: Harvest Moon, Harvest Moon: Friends of Mineral Town
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, F/F, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Light Angst, Love Confessions, Marriage Proposal
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-23
Updated: 2019-06-23
Packaged: 2020-05-16 22:49:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,454
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19327693
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WestOfWhat/pseuds/WestOfWhat
Summary: Claire has loved Popuri for years but never had the courage to tell her. A blue feather gave her some, but is it already too late?





	Blue Feather Fallen

Popuri was in love with him, she thought.

Why did she wait so long? It was too late now, wasn’t it? 

Claire overheard her talking to him about being free from Mineral Town. Popuri was leaving, with him. It was too much for her to listen to, she ran all the way home. She collapsed into her bed and cried and cried. The sun began to set and all her sobs grew silent, replaced by cicadas. She stared up at her ceiling. The orange glow in the room made her feel like she was in another world. 

She pulled out a blue feather from her overalls’ front pocket. She looked at it in the light. It had been just her luck. On the day she was going to finally say something...

Was it too late? 

It had to be. 

But was it? 

Her stomach twisted at the thought of either answer. If it was, she had lost without even trying. If it wasn’t, she had to decide if she was going to do anything. If Popuri rejected her, if Popuri hated her, how much worse would it feel? 

Oh, it would be _much_ worse, she thought. But was it worth a chance? Claire thought about the possibility of everything going exactly like her daydreams always went. Popuri confessed her feelings right back to her, they get married, and they live happily on Claire’s farm for the rest of their lives. 

The thought was both comforting and dreadful. It was what she wanted, but believed it was something she could never have. 

Claire got up and headed for the Goddess Spring for guidance. She held her head down. She could still feel the tears on her cheeks. The summer heat was a bitter reminder of all the times she saw Popuri with him. As Claire climbed up the hill and finally looked up to see the spring, she saw her there. 

Popuri. 

She couldn’t help but smile. Then she felt the knife twisting again in her heart. Maybe, though, this was a sign that she had to tell her. She hadn’t noticed her yet, she was sitting by the pond, twirling her fingers around in the water. Her pink hair shone a marvelous color in the light of sunset. Her eyes were glistening, she looked like she was in a trance. 

“Popuri,” Claire said. Popuri glanced over to her and gave her a small smile. “Why are you here?” 

Claire wasn’t ready to jump right into it, she was still untangling all the knots in her stomach.

“I had some things I wanted to think about,” Popuri said as if she was distracted. Claire didn’t like that. She noticed she was continuing to play with the water. Claire came and sat beside her. 

“What are you thinking about?” Claire hung her head so her bangs hid her eyes. 

“I was wondering what the rest of the world is like, outside of Mineral Town,” Popuri said. “I’m curious about it. Aren’t you?” 

Kai had lived all over the world. He could take her all those places, protect her and care for her the entire time. Claire couldn’t help but compare herself poorly to the man. What did she have to offer? A little farm in the town where Popuri grew up, just like the farm Popuri grew up on. How could she possibly give Popuri what she wanted? She racked her head for ideas but she kept coming back with only more harsh thoughts about herself.

“I’m curious about other things,” Claire murmured. 

“What things?” Popuri asked her. She looked at Claire and Claire hid herself further in her bangs, praying she wouldn’t notice. “Claire, are you okay?” 

Popuri scooted closer to her, Claire’s face grew hot and her palms started to sweat. She noticed. Popuri moved Claire’s bangs out of her face and saw her red eyes and the shine of her still wet cheeks. She frowned and wiped away the tears. 

“Why were you crying?” 

All of Popuri’s attention was on her now. It felt so good. Popuri’s touch felt so soft and her eyes were full of genuine concern, for _her_. 

Of course she cared about her, though, they’d been friends for years. They spent so many days and nights together. Laughing and watching movies during slumber parties. They had so many slumber parties. Claire remembered them all fondly, from the awkward first one to the one they had just before summer started this year. Popuri looked so adorable in her pajamas. A little pink nightgown with little red hearts. She wondered if they’d already had their last one. 

Tears fell down her face again. She blushed and tried to hold them back but she couldn’t. Popuri wrapped her arms around her and squeezed. She pet Claire’s hair and whispered comforting words to her. 

“It’s okay, Claire, what’s wrong?” 

It made her feel like she was going to burst. 

“Are you really moving away?” Claire choked out. She was barely audible. 

Popuri pulled away to look at her. She had a guilty look on her face. 

“Did you overhear that?” Popuri couldn’t look her in the eyes. She kept glancing but couldn’t last more than a few seconds. “I was going to tell you.”

She realized that maybe Popuri had been keeping other things from her, things she only shared with Kai. Maybe now she wasn’t even her best friend anymore. 

“I don’t want you to go.” Claire looked at her, her eyes were begging Popuri to look at her too. “Please don’t go, Popuri.” 

“I’ll still come back to visit,” Popuri said as she tried to smile. 

“Every summer? With him?” Claire asked, but she didn’t need to. She already knew the answer. Popuri looked at her confused. Claire couldn’t stand it. Popuri still hadn’t realized just _how_ important she was to her. “Popuri… I want you to stay here. With me. I wanted us to live on my farm together.” 

“What do you mean?” 

Claire laughed and tears dropped onto her clothes. 

“It’s so stupid,” she said. She pulled out the blue feather. Popuri’s eyes grew wide at the sight. “A bluebird flew right by me today and dropped this. Right in front of me. I thought it meant-”

Claire sighed and laughed again. 

“I’m so stupid.” 

Popuri took the feather from her and looked at it like she had never seen one before. 

“Claire,” Popuri whispered. “I never knew you felt this way.” 

“I know you didn’t,” Claire said. She didn’t blame her, it was her own fault. She had all that time with her, without Kai there, to do _something_ about how she felt. Instead, she chose to do nothing. She was too scared. But now she was even more scared. “It’s too late isn’t it?” 

Popuri was silent. She twirled the feather around. She smiled at it but it quickly faded.

“I-I don’t know, Claire,” Popuri stuttered out. She looked at Claire. “I don’t know what to do.” 

She looked like she was about to cry too. 

“I told Kai I wanted to move away from here,” Popuri continued. “I like him, but… It’s different with you. How am I supposed to feel? I want to leave, but I don’t want to leave _you_.” 

Claire let Popuri’s words sink in. Had Popuri gone through the same thing as her? Claire once thought she had liked one of the boys in town, but always found herself thinking of Popuri instead when she imagined her future. It took her ages to realize who she truly had feelings for.

She put her hand on Popuri’s. She smiled at her. Popuri glanced at her hand and then back to her face. Her cheeks filled in with the same color as her hair. She still looked confused but she looked a little happier. Claire thought maybe, just maybe, she could figure out how to make all Popuri’s dreams come true.

“If you move away, can we please move away together?” Claire asked. 

“I want that- Claire, I want that so much,” Popuri cried and shoved herself into Claire’s chest. She cried for a while, Claire couldn’t tell if it was from happiness or a surge of other emotion. Finally, she wiped her tears and looked at Claire again. “But… what about your farm?” 

“We’ll figure it out,” Claire caressed her cheek just as Popuri did to her. “I don’t ever want to be without you, Popuri.” 

“Claire,” Popuri said. She held up the blue feather. “Is this really for me?” 

“Will you accept it?” Claire said as she blushed and smiled. 

Popuri took the feather and tucked it into her hair and beamed at her. Claire could never imagine a more beautiful sight.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you enjoyed! I'm thinking about doing a bunch of one-shots with this pairing exploring their years spent together before this. Let me know if you would be interested!


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